Located in the city of Gaithersburg

Gaithersburg, Maryland

Gaithersburg is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The city had a population of 59,933 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth largest incorporated city in the state, behind Baltimore, Frederick, and Rockville...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Kentlands was one of the first attempts to develop a community using Traditional Neighborhood Design

Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND)

Traditional Neighborhood Development refers to the development of a complete neighborhood or town using traditional town planning principles. TND may occur in infill settings and involve adaptive reuse of existing buildings, but often involves all-new construction on previously undeveloped land...

 planning techniques (also known as neo-traditional new town planning) that are now generally referred to under the rubric of the New Urbanism

New urbanism

New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...

. The New Urbanism is the concept of building from scratch a walkable, mixed-use city neighborhood or new town in order to provide an attractive alternative to the spread out, automobile-centric, subdivisions common to post-World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 American suburbia. Kentlands is built around a farmstead previously owned by Otis Beall Kent.

The development, begun in 1988, contains buildings from the original Kentlands farm, many varieties of residences, a "downtown" commercial district, open space including protected natural areas and pocket park

Pocket park

A pocket park, parkette or mini-park is a small park accessible to the general public. In some areas they are called miniparks or vest-pocket parks....

s, and civic uses including schools, a church, and an arts center.

History

Kentlands is built on a former farm estate that had its origins in a 1723 land grant to Joseph West. In the mid-18th century, Henry Clagett, a prosperous farmer, acquired much of this land for his holdings. When Clagett died in 1777, several sections of this property passed to his son, Joseph.

The Tschiffely family began to farm the land in 1852, when Frederick A. Tschiffely, who owned a prominent wholesale pharmaceutical business in Washington, D.C., purchased more than 200 acre (0.809372 km²) of land from the Clagett heirs. In 1900, his son, also named Frederick A. Tschiffely, built the impressive brick mansion, barn, gatehouse, overseer's house, greenhouse and chicken coop that gave the property the nickname of "The Bricks". The family called their estate Wheatlands, after the wheat that was grown on the farm, and raised their eight children in the mansion. Mr. Tschiffely was the largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributor in the Washington area, and owner of Washington's best-known pharmacy. His daily commute to Washington began with a horse and buggy drive to the Gaithersburg train station.

In 1942, the Tschiffely family sold the land to Otis Beall Kent. Kent, a wealthy tax lawyer, renamed the land Kentlands Farm, and he set about to create a gentleman's estate and wildlife sanctuary. In the 1960s, part of the land was given to the Izaak Walton League

Izaak Walton League

The Izaak Walton League is an American environmental organization founded in 1922 that promotes natural resource protection and outdoor recreation. The organization was founded in Chicago, Illinois by a group of sportsmen who wished to protect fishing opportunities for future generations...

 and the National Geographic Society

National Geographic Society

The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...

 with conditions of maintaining much of the land as a wildlife sanctuary. Mr. Kent bequeathed the remainder of the property to his adopted daughter, Helene Danger Kent. That portion was annexed into the city of Gaithersburg and was sold in 1988 to the town creator, Joe Alfandre.

Alfandre, a developer, brought in Andres Duany

Andrés Duany

Andrés Duany is an American architect and urban planner.Duany was born in New York City but grew up in Cuba until 1960. He attended The Choate School and received his undergraduate degree in architecture and urban planning from Princeton University...

 and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk

Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk

Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk is an American architect and urban planner of Polish aristocratic roots based in Miami, Florida...

 (partners in what was then called DPZ), two urban planners credited with designing the town of Seaside

Seaside, Florida

Seaside is an unincorporated master-planned community on the Florida panhandle in Walton County, between Panama City Beach and Destin. The town has become the topic of slide lectures in architectural schools and in housing-industry magazines, and is visited by design professionals from all over the...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. After the June 1988 Kentlands Charrette

Charrette

A charrette , is often Anglicized to charette and sometimes called a design charrette. It consists of an intense period of design activity.-Charrettes in general:...

, several historic buildings were donated to the city, . The neighborhood was built in a process that involved several additional charrettes. As the project was nearing completion, a sister development, named Lakelands

Lakelands, Gaithersburg, Maryland

Lakelands is a neo traditional neighborhood located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. It is located adjacent to and is sometimes considered an extension of Kentlands, another neo traditional neighborhood.-See also:* Kentlands, Gaithersburg, Maryland* Lakelands Park...

, was built adjacent to Kentlands. Lakelands also was designed in a charrette process including the DPZ team, the city staff, and local residents.

Construction started in 1989, and the first model homes opened in mid-1990. The first Kentlands residents moved into new homes in 1991.

Sites

A number of historic landmarks from the original Kent Farm were refurbished and donated to the city. The Kentlands Mansion, the main residence of the farm owners and the center of historic Kentlands Farm, is now a city-owned venue for art exhibits, concerts, and public events, and is available as a rental for private parties and meetings. The Kentlands Barn has been converted into a public arts center with studios, exhibit space, and a ninety-nine seat theater used for theatrical performances and concerts. The former farm manager's house has been transformed into a private residence, another farm building into the town architect's office, and another building was sold to the Kentlands Citizens Assembly – Kentlands' administrative body – which converted it into a meeting place, exhibit hall, and the headquarters of the Kentlands Community Foundation. The old Kentlands Firehouse, garden buildings, a "peacock house," and other historic artifacts have not yet been restored, while some ruins have become part of privately-owned property or city parks.
The town also has a system of artificial lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

s that snakes through the community. There are jogging trails that run through the parks and various districts of the neighborhood, and the community's commercial areas and the facilities operated by the Assembly, which include swimming pools, tennis courts, playgrounds, performance spaces, and a large clubhouse, are all within walking distance.

Kentlands is divided into several districts, including "Old Farm", built around the historic mansion and the Kentlands Village Square; "Gatehouse", named after the farm's entry gatehouse, which has been reconstructed; the "Hill Districts"; the "Lakes Districts"; "Kentlands Bluff"; "Midtown/Main Street"; "Market Square"; and "Kentlands Square". The winding street layout is based on a grid pattern, varied as necessary by the requirements of Kentlands topography. Multiple open green spaces and pocket parks have been developed where land was available between the districts or in odd spaces near buildings and dwellings.

Market Square, Kentlands Square, and the Boulevard Shops are commercial districts with grocery store

Grocery store

A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...

s, bank

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

s, boutiques, offices, stores, dozens of restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

s, and a 10-screen cinema cafe. Main Street is a mixed-use area with distinctive "live-work" buildings with retail and office uses on the lower floors and residential uses on the upper floors. City planners, public officials, business owners, and neighborhood residents recently worked with urban designers the from HOK global architecture firm at the Kentlands Commercial District Charrette, in which a plan was developed for an intensified mixed-use and transit-oriented Downtown Kentlands. The proposals developed in the charrette are now winding their way through the City of Gaithersburg's master planning process.

Kentlands, along with its sister community Lakelands, is among the largest and arguably most successful of the New Urbanist projects. More than 8,000 residents now live in Kentlands and Lakelands, with office and commercial development totaling more than 1000000 sq ft (92,903 m²).

Rachel Carson Elementary School is at one entrance to the community and Lakelands Park Middle School divides the newer development of Lakelands from the former National Geographic complex that is adjacent to it, now occupied by GXS and the Peapod

Peapod

Peapod, LLC is an online grocery delivery service owned by Royal Ahold and operating only in a select number of US cities. The company is based in Skokie, Illinois."." Peapod. Retrieved on February 15, 2011. "Corporate Headquarters 9933 Woods Drive, Skokie, IL 60077 ."-History:Peapod was founded in...

home delivery grocery service.